Hakeem Al-Araibi arrives at court in Thailand with his legs shackled. Lillian Suwanrumpha/AFPSource:AFP

With his feet shackled together as he arrived at court, Hakeem Al-Araibi begged Thai authorities not to send him back to Bahrain.

And for now the footballer will stay in a Thai prison until his next court date on April 22, after he was denied bail.

The 25-year-old has been given 60 days to prepare a defence against the Bahraini attempt to extradite him from Thailand after he faced court to formally lodge his refusal to be extradited. The judge gave his lawyers until April 5 to file their written appeal.

Al-Araibi fled Bahrain in 2014 after he was allegedly tortured.

Before he entered court yesterday, reporters, activists, and officials, including Australian ambassador-designate to Thailand Allan McKinnon waited outside to greet Araibi, who was led into the courthouse wearing a beige prison uniform.

“Don’t send me to Bahrain,” pleaded the footballer, who says he faces persecution and torture if he is sent back to a country where he has been convicted in absentia and sentenced to 10 years in prison.

Football analyst and human rights campaigner Craig Foster shouted back to Araibi: “Your wife sent her love, Australia is with you, buddy. Stay strong, Hakeem.”

Araibi had been granted permanent residence in Melbourne, where he played for second-tier soccer club Pascoe Vale, before he was arrested while on honeymoon in Bangkok in November on an Interpol notice issued at Bahrain’s request.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison sent a letter last month urging Thailand to stop the extradition, and soccer governing bodies and human rights activists have urged the country to let him return to Australia.

CRAIG FOSTER’S CRUSADE

Former Socceroos captain Craig Foster is continuing his tireless crusade to help Hakeem Al-Araibi, saying the young footballer’s fate has “become a battle for the soul of all sport”.

Foster is in Thailand to support Al-Araibi as the 25-year-old faced court to say whether or not he is willing to be extradited to his native Bahrain — where he has been convicted in absentia and sentenced to 10 years in jail.

Following yesterday’s court appearance, his lawyers will have 60 days to prepare a case against Bahrain’s extradition request.

Meanwhile, Al-Araibi himself will remain locked up in a Bangkok prison.

Hakeem al-Araibi in December. Photo: APSource:AP

The conviction relates to Al-Araibi’s alleged role in vandalising and firebombing a police station. He denies the charges, and says he was taking part in a televised football match at the time of the attack.

Al-Araibi was granted refugee status in Australia after fleeing Bahrain. But when he arrived in Thailand for his honeymoon in November, he was detained.

Interpol had issued an international arrest warrant at Bahrain’s request — even though such warrants are not supposed to be used on refugees.

Foster has led the campaign to help Al-Araibi ever since, drawing support from a number of high profile athletes. Chelsea legend Didier Drogba joined their ranks over the weekend.

Foster wants the sporting community, including FIFA and the International Olympic Committee, to sanction Bahrain and Thailand, whose prime minister could end Al-Araibi’s ordeal by ordering his return to Australia.

“Nothing is going to stop this process without the most strenuous response from international sport and governments because ultimately, this is not about extradition, it is about control, authority and retribution,” he wrote in The Guardian.

“Membership of the international sporting community carries the basic obligation to respect humanitarian values and to treat participants, of all people, with the utmost care and respect. And when this is breached, membership of both nations should be in immediate endangerment.”

Yesterday Foster said he was feeling “extremely uneasy”, worried and nervous for Al-Araibi ahead of the court appearance.

“Bahrain are telling their citizens that no one is safe, we can get you anywhere in the world. Speak out, and no one is safe. That’s what this is about, it’s terrifying, and the world needs to step up now in the interests of freedom of speech,” he said.

Heading out early this morning. All our love and support to everyone back home, supporters everywhere. We’ll try to get close enough to communicate, if not yell, our support and all yours. Thais purposely rushed through over weekend to restrict access inside court #SaveHakeem

Another crowd gathered in Melbourne’s Federation Square, chanting “save Hakeem”, as Professional Footballers Australia chief executive John Didulica implored Thailand to remember Australia’s swift response to save 12 young footballer’s from a flooded cave last year.

“We cheered with you when two of those Australians emerged with your 12 heroes, today we ask for a return of that favour,” Didulica said.

“You cannot have the privileges of the international community if you are not prepared to live by its rules or behave by its standards.”

Prime Minister Scott Morrison has written to his Thai counterpart, to no avail.

HOW HAKEEM’S NIGHTMARE UNFOLDED

Al-Araibi’s 19th birthday was a terrifying experience — one he thought he would never have to relive.

On his way to a cafe on November 7, 2012 to watch a game between Real Madrid and Barcelona, the promising young footballer was snatched off the street by Bahrain security forces.

They told the teenager he was wanted over the vandalising of a police station four days earlier. His brother Emad Al-Araibi had “confessed” Hakeem had been part of a crowd of 150 protesters who set upon the building with molotov cocktails, prosecutors said.

The next day Al-Araibi told the public prosecutor he was playing in a football match when the attack took place and denied the allegations. But his detention was extended for 45 days, during which he says security forces tried to torture a confession out of him.

“They spent three hours hitting me hard on my legs, while saying: ‘We will break your bones, we will destroy your future, you will never play football again with these legs,’” he said of his alleged torture in custody.

A gifted centre-back, Al-Araibi was also a member of the Bahrain national team and was later allowed to travel to Qatar for a match, from which he fled to Iran.

He made it to Australia in May 2014 and was eventually granted refugee status, which allowed him to travel with documentation and the assurance of protection.

But six years later he is experiencing the same sense of helplessness and confusion.

A T-shirt worn at the Opera House rally. Picture: AFPSource:AFP

On November 27 he was grabbed by Thai immigration officers at Bangkok Airport after Bahrain requested an Interpol Red Notice for his arrest, despite refoulement of refugees being against the law enforcement agency’s policy.

He had travelled to Thailand for a belated honeymoon with his wife.

The Thai attorney-general’s office ruled Bahrain had a legitimate “criminal” case. But Sayed Ahmed al-Wadei, from the London-based Bahrain Institute for Rights and Democracy (BIRD), disagreed with Thailand’s decision.

“The court ruling in Bahrain that convicted Hakeem and sentenced him to 10 years in prison is not even worth the paper it was printed on, as it is full of contradictions,” al-Wadei told AAP.

BIRD recently obtained documentation of al-Araibi’s trial, and conviction in absentia to 10 years’ jail, which it says is full of “flaws and contradictions”.

The case was presided over by Sheikh Mohammed bin Ali al-Khalifa, a member of Bahrain’s ruling royal family.

Prominent among the flaws, according to BIRD, was the court disregarding defence arguments that Emad Al-Araibi’s confession was obtained through physical and psychological duress.

The most troubling part of the case, BIRD says, related to the time the police station attack took place, which was key to Hakeem Al-Arabi’s alibi.

His brother said the attack took place at 6.30pm, when Hakeem was playing in a nationally televised game for his club Al-Shabab at the Al-Muharraq Stadium. The game started at 5.30pm and finished at 7.20pm.

Multiple statements were submitted to the court, including from the Bahrain Football Association, the Al-Shabab club and fellow players confirming this. Footage from the game broadcast by Bahrain Sports Channel 1 showing Al-Araibi playing was also submitted.

But the court ruled the mob had gathered earlier and the attack had taken place at 8pm. It said Hakeem al-Araibi had had enough time to leave the stadium and take part in it.

Bahrain has said little publicly about Al-Araibi’s extradition case as a groundswell of international support for his release has gathered in recent weeks from powerful bodies, such as FIFA and the International Olympic Committee.